Guardianship

[Guest guest]

I am not sure what you mean by " guardianship " . Our

son, who has Asperger's, is high functioning, is a

sophomore in college. We work with the college

psychologist, the director of special needs, and the

dean of students. Our son agreeably signed a waiver

that these people can " talk " to us regarding him,

since he is over 18.

__________________________________________________

[Guest guest]

That is great, Donna. Good open communication can be so helpful. It sounds like you and your son have a great relationship based on trust.

What I was referring to was the guardianship that requires a court order and appearance and virtually strips a persons right to make his/her own decisions about health care, contracts, etc...

This is typically done for individuals who are not felt to be mentally competent to understand the ramifications of these kinds of decisions. It does not sound like your son fits into that category but someone with severe mental illness or intellectual disabilities (aka mental retardation) would be more likely to require guardianship as a protection.

Ellen

Ellen Garber Bronfeldegskb@...

Re:Guardianship

I am not sure what you mean by "guardianship". Ourson, who has Asperger's, is high functioning, is asophomore in college. We work with the collegepsychologist, the director of special needs, and thedean of students. Our son agreeably signed a waiverthat these people can "talk" to us regarding him,since he is over 18.__________________________________________________

[Guest guest]

,

I think we got the same line from the lawyer regarding guardianship - no need to do that. The lawyer had the idea that we should just wait and see how things go because we have/had no idea how independent he will become still. And then, because he still relies on us, he seemed to feel there was no need since he will certainly ask us before doing anything major. Still, I am hugely concerned about so many things and of course, the chance that sometime he would be taken advantage of without us there to stop it. Since he is not very social, this is not as likely as it might be for some people. But even the medical and educational aspects - these people look at us (mostly me, as the mother) as if we are interfering and they are just humoring me by letting me participate. At the last IEP meeting, they said four times that my signature was "not necessary." I wanted to tell them to get a grip because my kid would not sign until he saw that I had signed. And I am a participant. I think they got all excited that now he is past 18 and they could "get rid of the evil parent." lol. lol. Or, hey, maybe that was just my imagination? lol.

Anyway, great topic and I agree I would like to hear more about it! Any lawyers out there with information or anyone with good links or experience?

RoxannaYou're UniqueJust like everyone else...

( ) Re: new member intro/

Roxanna, I am so right there with you. The coordinator for the parent support group at our school insisted that we had to avoid complaining about the school's IEP process and focus on positive things. It was just worthless to me, so I quit going.I really do envy people who have children who have AS the way my husband has AS. He meets the diagnostic criteria, but it's mild. Mild enough that he has a Ph.D., a job he loves, and a family with a wife and five kids. If my son (who's 17 now) looked to be on track for all of that, I'd be so happy.Unfortunately, my son's therapist recently warned me that sending him to college is unlikely to work out. She says she's seen numerous children/young adults with his degree of impairment crash and burn when they have to take on the degree of personal autonomy that college demands.And just three days ago my son's psychiatrist advised me to start investigating establishing a guardianship for him once he's 18. I must have looked stunned. I mean, I know he has a lot of trouble with various things, but he's also very bright, and all these years I've been hoping that I'd be able to make things work out for him. His psychiatrist asked me if I thought he could take care of himself in the world any time soon, and I have to admit that there's no way he's going to be ready for that--maybe never. She says if that's the case, we need to arrange things legally so that we can take care of him.Sigh. Just writing about it makes me tear up. It's like have a child with AS is one long series of disappointments and adjustments for me. I make all these sunshiny plans for how I'm going to get him to independence, and one after another they wind up being pipe dreams. I *need* somebody to understand how that feels and to help me cope with it and figure out how to unravel the complex issues you face when it looks like your child *isn't* going to be OK in the end. It's just depressing.Sue C.On Aug 4, 2008, at 7:35 AM, Roxanna wrote:<snip>I later realized that the people who had real and serious problems with their kids and autism did not come to the meetings any longer, had stopped coming or never come at all. It was really only the people who had raised their kids and their kids had done well or had kids with more minor problems who came and had fun chatting. They thought I was a wet blanket and I thought they were in need of a real problem in life.No virus found in this incoming message.Checked by AVG - http://www.avg.com Version: 8.0.138 / Virus Database: 270.5.12/1589 - Release Date: 8/3/2008 1:00 PM

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